Bad guests => bad reputation for Airbnb => More regulation!!!

[Susie5]

I have just had a light bulb moment and want to share with you all.  Here in Boston we are about to have a fairly draconian set of regulations imposed, which will essentially do away with investor-owned properties in Boston.  Airbnb has done some fairly extensive publicity, most of which was not received well AT ALL and in fact has probably hurt the case.  Even our local NPR station has more or less come out against Airbnb. But that would be the subject of another posting...

What I want to address is the fact that Airbnb takes no action against rotten guests and in fact, most often sides with them against the host and lets the guests get off with no penalty. 

Why is this important?  Because **almost every opponent** of a more reasonable approach to regulation of short term rentals such as Airbnb who spoke in the Boston City Council (excluding those from the hotel industry) had a HORROR STORY to tell about some Airbnb guests who ruined this or that, or had a loud party, or were rude about parking, or whatever.  So now Airbnb's indulgent policy towards bad guests is going to bite us all in Boston, but most particularly the investor-owned units. I don't know why I didn't make the link before, and I'm not sure Airbnb management has made the link even now. But it's indisputable - bad guests have helped to sour the atmosphere for all Airbnb hosts, at least here in Boston... and maybe coming to a jurisdiction near you. 

[Paul154]

One headline, you will NEVER see is "NPR has new policy prohibiting any employee to use Airbnb". At their level of income, I can guarantee you ALL NPR EMPLOYEES use Airbnb exclusively.

Our real enemy is sensationalism by the media. They don't care who they hurt with their one-sided coverage - they just want people to listen to them.

As for city council meetings, there are professional complainers who band together for policitical power. Come on really, "The airbnb guests were RUDE about parking"! As if they own the parking spots.

ALL of my airbnb guests have been exemplary. 

Some people want to control everything around them, including city property and their neighbors. 

[Susie5]

Hi @Paul0, 

Here is the link to the news story I particularly referenced in my posting. See what you think. This is a local show with local WBUR hosts and guests. 

http://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2018/05/14/airbnb-boston-ads 

I have been a happy host for the most part, but I have definitely had some very bad guests. One guest I strongly suspect was sub-letting spaces in my unit to local students during spring break, at a price of $600!  (I only charged him $350 for the time he was here).  He booked for 1 and then brought 4, who smoked, threw butts around, were rude to everyone, and then left the place covered in spilled coke, vomit, and general mayhem. Glad you have never experienced anything like this. My neighbors noticed the cigarette butts and the noise. 

Susie

[Willow3]

It's easy to blame bad guests... but hosts share resposibility in this problem too.  I have a house behind me, the listing is for a large number of guests - so it attracts parties.  The hosts live 150 miles away, it's not their neighborhood, they don't care the impact their party guests have on those of us who live here.  This is common now. When I moved to this town 8 years ago, there were ± ten vacation rentals.  There are now 102 rentals in my town of 1800 residents.  Within one block of my house, there are 5 whole house listings and two (including mine) private rooms.  We no longer have neighbors... just strangers passing through.  Of course some are listings on Airbnb are rooms at the local Inns and BnBs - but the flavor of this town is shifting... and not in a good way.  Investor owners dont' live here, they don't vote in our local elections, they don't send their children to the schools, they don't dine at the restuarants, and don't shop in the shops.  

So personally, I'm not sad about new regulations agains investor hosts.  I think they, more than bad guests, have tarnished the intent and name of Airbnb.  

[Kelly149]

and it may not matter much anyway. Our jurisdiction has very stringent rules: doesn't matter, 8 out of 10 listings aren't licensed, maybe do or don't pay taxes, don't follow the rules. ABB does nothing to verify that listings are in compliance, so unless the municipality is going to handle enforcement (how??) things will go on along as they have.

[Annette190]

Add me to the list.

i just got shafted by them over a 1st time guest

[Alexandra316]

@Susie5 I totally disagree that bad guests are the issue. In many places, Airbnb makes already tight rental housing markets even tighter by reducing the number of units available. This is a real problem in major cities, and seems to be at the heart of many of the regulations and crackdowns. Also, some hosts don't vet guests properly and just don't care, because they don't live on site. If hosts are properly managing their Airbnbs, there should be minimal impact on neighbours - there shouldn't be any more than there would be with conventional tenants.

There will always be NIMBY-ers: people who are upset because someone is parked in "their" (public, street) parking spot, or because someone was laughing too loudly using the common stairwell, or something trivial.

There are certainly bad guests, but there are also bad hosts, who just don't care about their neighbours or neighbourhoods because they don't live there and they're getting paid. This I think is the true root of the problem.

[Susie5]

@Alexandra316, I agree wholeheartedly that there are bad hosts.  I am an owner-in-residence type of host, so I keep a close eye on everything, but I have definitely had some very bad guests (mostly student groups). You can't always vet them properly with the info Airbnb gives them, unless you choose not to host anyone with no reviews. I have chosen to accept people with no reviews on the basis that they have to start somewhere and it might as well be me.  But that has been a bad decision in a couple of instances. 

[Alexandra316]

@Susie5 I accept people with no reviews all the time, and I definitely agree that you can have bad guests unexpectedly. But I don't think that by and large, the occasional party is the issue. It's the houses where there are parties every single weekend, and that's a management problem. There is a house in Toronto that drew a large amount of bad publicity because literally every weekend, there was a massive rave there, and all of the furniture would be out on the lawn being thrown away every week. That's not a situation where it's a case of a random bad guest: that's a choice by a host to be a completely irresponsible w*nker, at the expense of the community and the reputation of Airbnb. I don't know that you can fault the guest, because they are following the rules laid out by the completely irresponsible host. Those kinds of situations draw a ton of bad publicity.

[Paul154]

@Alexandra316

NO NO NO.

GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS  and POOR PLANNING make already tight rental housing markets even tighter by reducing the number of units available. This is a real problem in major cities.

Airbnb is improving tight rental housing markets by creating supply.

We create supply by more efficiently using space (we use that unused spare bedroom), by more effiently meeting people's needs  with innovation (many hosts provide quality housing w/o kitchens or laundries) and by creating desire for hosts to create more supply providing hosts pleasant, easy guests and more revenue.

We are professionals in the field. We should not spouting the PC party line. We should not be complicit in politicians'/media's smear campaigns that direct attention away from them not providing for their people.

[Willow3]

Hogwash. No one on Airbnb, renting a room, is helping the tight rental market. We allow people passing through, to spend a night or three at a price lower than hotels. No one is LIVING  in my guest room. People in cities especially, need places to LIVE. Investment hosts remove full house properties from the rental market. Exasperating an already difficult rental situation. 

[Alexandra316]

@Paul154 Sorry, but we'll have to agree to disagree. When landlords are converting their rental condos or houses to Airbnbs, it takes property away from the regular housing market. I'm not talking about people renting out their spare rooms or letting someone sleep on their sofa: that is generally having no effect, unless a host would otherwise have a long-term lodger. I don't think that this is the case for most people who do housesharing style Airbnbs.

I'm not towing anyone's line. I'm not saying that I don't agree with the reasons landlords don't want to rent to conventional tenants. If the short term rental market didn't exist, I wouldn't rent the space I rent out, because I'm personally not comfortable with the amount of risk that conventional landlords are exposed to. I don't think that the climate is good for being a landlord where I live. However, that doesn't take away from the fact that this is a major sticking point for housing advocates and other social activists: units that would otherwise be let out as regular long-term rentals are being converted to short-term rentals because they're more lucrative and don't carry a lot of the same risks.

[Paul154]

@Alexandra316

You have stated it eloquently. If you couldn't airbnb, you would not provide housing.

EXACTLY.

[Willow3]

@Paul154 - Alexandra isn’t providing housing, she is (like me) is providing accommodations. In my town of 1800 residents, we have 70 whole house listings on Airbnb.  Up from +/- 10 just 8 years ago. That’s sixty families who no longer have a house to live in. In my neighborhood, I’ve lost 5 full time resident neighbors.  The owners of these properties live in your neck of the woods. They aren’t investing in mine. Trickle down always has been and always will be, nonsense. 

[Sarah977]

@Willow3   I'm in total agreement with you and @Alexandra316.  I wouldn't be renting my small spare bedroom to anyone long-term, I don't want a full-time roommate and want the room available for when friends and family come to visit. Airbnb is the perfect solution for a room that would normally sit empty most of the year. A guy who was living next door to me said to me one day, "You know you could make a lot of money if you just rented a cheap place to live and airbnb'ed your whole house out". My response was "Why in the world would I do that? This is my home, I've spent years making it comfortable and beautiful, why would I want to go live in some dumpy rental just to make money?"

The reason I ended up buying a lot and building a house here was that it was getting impossible to find reasonable long-term rentals here (and I was lucky that I owned a house in Canada that I sold in order to relocate, most people don't have the money to buy a lot and build or buy a home). Yes, it's a tourist beach town, so of course there are going to be tons of vacation rentals. But there used to be lots of small places, not beachfront, for locals to rent. Then the local home owners realized they could make way more money by doing a bit of renos and renting short term. There are now tons of people who work here, but live elsewhere and have to commute daily because the place is priced way out of the market for regular folks who aren't on vacation.